Happy New Year

The funny thing about significant others is that they have families too. During festivals where one normally spends time with family, which family does one choose? This has always been an easy choice for my older sisters. Since they cannot bear to leave my mother and grandmother alone they spend family festivals with them rather than their husband’s families. While I agree with that in principle, my boyfriend is rather close to his family. He does not want to be away from them any more than I want to be away from mine.

World Leader Pretend

I’m going to ignore how annoying it is that it takes them so long to hold elections. France held elections in April, run-offs 2 weeks later and Hollande was sworn in a week after that. Our 2009 elections were in February. About a week later Netanyahu was asked to form a coalition. A month later he was prime minister. It would have been faster had Livni been able to form a coalition. I still think she would have been a better PM.

Americans do it differently. Obama started campaigning in February 2007. He was elected in November 2008 and took office in January 2009. It takes them 2 years to get a job that lasts 4 years.

I suppose I’m not going to ignore it. Hindsight is 50/50.

Biko

For their efforts, Helen Zille and Donald Woods lost their jobs. Zille left the Rand Daily Mail when it was forced to retract everything she wrote. From there she went into antiapartheid activism full time. Donald Woods was banned and eventually went to Britain. His book was made into a decent movie with Kevin Kline doing a horrible accent and Denzel Washington doing a pretty good accent.

Unnecessary Financial Expenditures

Hong Kong Harbour from Victoria Peak in 2004


2008


2012
If there were not so much smog and weather you would be able to see the rise of the new ICC building, now Hong Kong’s tallest, on the left of each picture. In 2004 it was little more than a large patch of dirt. In 2008 it was probably half finished. By 2012 it was fully operational.


Name the tails